Why one journalist left her newspaper for PR

Emily Nipps

Emily Nipps, a 34-year-old reporter, recently announced that she’s leaving Poynter’s Tampa Bay Times to do PR for the Bayfront Medical Center. “I have to say I am a little bit scared for newspapers,” she tells AJR. “I don’t know that I can wait around another three years to see then how many are here, or if we’re going to get raises.” She adds:

Newsrooms are so comfortable and relaxed, and you can say whatever’s on your mind. I’ll have to dress nicer, behave nicer… It’s going to be a complete culture change, and it’s going to be really strange working on the other side. I’ll just enjoy learning new ways to apply my skills to communicate. Get people to open up. Take what someone is saying and translate it to the general public.

I’m looking forward to how all the things I’ve learned for the past 12 years can be applied to the world in a completely new way.

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2 comments

wubbly said: March 20, 20125:09 pm

Heck yeah, girl! All journalists should follow her example. And get over the “dark side” mentality. Journos work for the dark side already by employers who take advantage of them. If you can swap your access to important people for a good paying gig — don’t think twice about it. Stories like this one are showing the way.